[Luinnar]

Portal Sequel Not Coming This Year

Quote

The moment Portal's brilliant finale wrapped up, a sequel to the immensely popular first-person puzzle game was nearly a forgone conclusion. Then it became an actual conclusion, when Portal lead designer Kim Swift accidentally officially announced Portal 2. Just don't expect to see it this year -- Eurogamer reports the sequel won't be on store shelves until at least 2009.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Valve's marketing director Doug Lombardi explained that the long wait will be due to the company's sequel philosophy. "In typical Valve tradition, it won't be Portal with different colors," he said. "I think that when you hit something like that, you have two choices: you can quickly replicate it and stick it out there -- do the opportunistic thing and cash in on it; or you can do the crazy thing like we did after Half-Life was so successful and go off and try and say, 'Okay, that was revolutionary, so its successor has to be equally as revolutionary.'"

Therefore, no Portal 2 this year: "You won't see a new Portal at retail this Christmas because of that," he said. "That's the trade off. People want more, but we don't want to give them more of the same right away because that would just be boring."

Looks like Portal fans are in for a long wait, but then it just wouldn't be a Valve game otherwise, would it?

Glad to see they are trying something different. I could see them using the gravity gun in puzzles with the portal gun and maybe a new gun? The time gun or something... hmmm...

[Luinnar]

Potential Portal 2 details revealed in casting call
Hmm prequel? sounds interesting...

This post has been edited by Luinnar: 10 June 2008 - 05:08 PM

[boyward]

Luinnar, on Jun 10 2008, 12:08 PM, said:

Potential Portal 2 details revealed in casting call
Hmm prequel? sounds interesting...

Prequel sounds like the way to go.

I started a second play-through of Portal the other day. My kid sisters (age 14 and 15) were watching and they thought the idea of porting through walls was cool they didn't get the humor. Actually, they were rather annoyed with GLADos.

[Luinnar]

Still alive in Japanese.

[Luinnar]

Portal for the PC just got updated with hidden radio messages and a new achievement! Is valve hinting that Portal 2/0 will be out this year?

[Evili]

People on Kotaku believe it could even hint at a Half-Life announcement!

[Colonel Link]

Valve is simply the king among developers. No one else could push such an obscure thing out and have such a rabid response to it.



These are images produced by the radio sounds. That's right, there are people in the world who can get stinkin pictures from sound.

Evili, on 01 March 2010 - 08:45 PM, said:

People on Kotaku believe it could even hint at a Half-Life announcement!

Yeah, but Portal is much more likely. Just because those 2 universes are associated doesn't mean it's Ep3.

Edit: This needs no explanation.

This post has been edited by Colonel Link: 02 March 2010 - 02:38 PM

[Luinnar]

(slightly) new ending!

Spoiler

[Colonel Link]

Luinnar, on 03 March 2010 - 07:39 PM, said:

(slightly) new ending!

Spoiler

I don't remember the original ending perfectly. I'm thinking the differences are:

Spoiler

the way GlaDOS dies by getting sucked into the ceiling, and you following seemingly voluntarily; I seem to remember there being more explosions in the original and you getting launched out. And the robot's "party escort submission position", followed by getting dragged away, wasn't in the normal ending. Am I missing something else?

This post has been edited by Colonel Link: 04 March 2010 - 02:24 PM

[Luinnar]

Portal 2 announced!

Quote

Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike and Half-Life) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced Portal 2 for shipment this coming holiday season.

Portal 2 is the sequel to 2007's Portal, which won 70 industry achievement awards.

For more information, please visit www.steamgames.com

From kotaku (Portal 2 spoilers)

Spoiler

Today's Game Informer cover unveiling is just the latest in a year and a half's worth of Portal 2 news that has been steadily leaking about the Valve game since 2008.

The cover hints at a chance to leave the labs, and GLADOS, behind, but we've known plenty more than that for quite awhile. Be warned, if you proceed through our Insider's Guide to Portal 2 surprises, plot-lines, characters will be SPOILED.

Cave Johnson, the boss of Aperture who was dead in Portal, will be the principle antagonist of this sequel. How? We'll get to that.

In the game, Johnson, described as an amiable self-made billionaire who refuses to accept the responsibility of his power, starts off as a sort of sidekick to the player but then he starts to lose his grip on humanity as the story progresses. According to an open casting call we received in 2008, at some point in the game, after Johnson has isolated himself from the people around him and lost touch with reality, he becomes the main bad guy.

But how does a dead man get a leading role in Portal 2?

Enter our second major Portal 2 scoop of 2008: Leaked script samples.

Turns out that Johnson will be portrayed in the game as a simulated computer version of himself. Resurrected inside a computer, Johnson will urge the player to continue testing as he discusses his take on the afterlife.

We also get a bit of insight into Johnson through this week's Valve update of Portal which included plenty of buried hints all of which led to some fantastic quotes from Johnson:

"Science isn't about why, it's about why not. You ask: Why is so much of our science dangerous? I say: Why not marry safe science if you love it so much. In fact, why not invent a special safety door that won't hit you in the butt on the way out, because you are fired."

"Plus, in the event of your death, I personally guarantee that, thanks to the form you were required to sign this morning, your family will not suffer the indignities of a prolonged and costly legal battle against Aperture Science. Trust me, I am rich, and it is a burden I would not wish on anyone."

So we've got an unhinged, debodied billionaire acting as friend and protagonist. We've got all of the tech of Aperture Science, like that spiffy Portal gun and maybe some new toys. And what else?

The final piece of the puzzle may be revealed on the Game Informer cover, which seems to hint at the possibility of the game leaving the stark confines of the lab and going abroad.

So when is this dark comedy coming out?

This coming holiday season, according to Steam's announcement today, just like Plunkett guessed in 2008.

One final clue? Why are there certain letters underlined in the official Portal 2 announcement? Here are the underlined letters, and one number: drattmannh0nee.

What now?

Edit: More info:

Quote

Coming this holiday. Portal 2 is the sequel to 2007's Game of the Year and draws from the award-winning formula of innovative game play, story, and music that earned the original over 70 industry accolades. Features single and multiplayer co-op modes. The single-player portion of Portal 2 introduces a cast of dynamic new characters, a host of fresh puzzle elements, and a much larger set of devious test chambers. Players will explore never-before-seen areas of the Aperture Science Labs

Spoiler

and be reunited with GLaDOS, the occasionally murderous computer companion who guided them through the original game.

The game's two-player cooperative mode features its own entirely separate campaign with a unique story, test chambers, and two new player characters. This new mode forces players to reconsider everything they thought they knew about portals. Success will require them to not just act cooperatively, but to think cooperatively

[Evili]

Yay! Color me excited!

[Colonel Link]

Awesome! I would have preferred Episode 3, but all the evidence pointed to this.

This post has been edited by Colonel Link: 06 March 2010 - 03:52 PM

[Luinnar]

Colonel Link, on 06 March 2010 - 10:52 AM, said:

Awesome! I would have preferred Episode 3, but all the evidence pointed to this.

Episode 3 will come after L4D5 in a couple years

I'm interested on how they will handle:

Spoiler

Gladous. Will she help you this time? I'm thinking she will have a floating pod thing and fly around giving you advice and helping a little bit.

[Colonel Link]

Seems you PS3 owners won't be playing Portal 2.

[Luinnar]

Portal 2 delayed until 2011.

You know, I'm all for taking enough time to make good games; but Valve really should hire more people so that they can make more than 1 game every 1.5 years and not take 10 years to make a 4 hour HL Episode 3

At least I have not followed the Half Life series until recently... /sigh.

I guess this explains why the E3 portal press conference was canceled.

[_-Syniistr/Havok-_]

Colonel Link, on 06 March 2010 - 10:13 AM, said:

Seems you PS3 owners won't be playing Portal 2.

What the heck did Sony do to deserve that, huh? I thought all big-shot gaming companies, Valve included, were concerned mainly about making revenues, and the best way to do that is through multiple platforms.